An international team of scientists has uncovered critical factors influencing hearing sensitivity, with biological sex emerging as the leading determinant. Their research indicates that women possess significantly more sensitive hearing than men, with additional influences from age and environmental factors such as location and lifestyle.
The study, led by Dr. Patricia Balaresque from the Centre for Biodiversity and Environmental Research (CRBE) in Toulouse, France, along with Professor Turi King from the University of Bath, UK, sheds light on how evolutionary and environmental factors shape our auditory capabilities. Conducting tests on 450 individuals across 13 diverse global populations—including Ecuador, England, Gabon, South Africa, and Uzbekistan—the researchers aimed to explore the impact of sex, age, and environment on hearing sensitivity.
Despite the well-documented decline in hearing sensitivity with age, there has been limited research on the role of other factors, including biological sex, ethnicity, language, and living environments. To address this gap, the team assessed the cochlear response to various sound frequencies and amplitudes by measuring Transient-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE), a method that evaluates the ear’s ability to transmit brain signals in response to sound.
While it is known that people generally hear better in their right ear than their left, the team’s findings on sex and environmental influences were unexpected. Their results, published in Scientific Reports, reveal that women demonstrated an average of two decibels better hearing sensitivity than men across all the populations studied—indicating that sex plays a more significant role in hearing amplitude than age.
Environment was the second most influential factor, not only affecting the volume of sound perceived but also the range of frequencies heard. Residents of forested regions exhibited the highest hearing sensitivity, while those living at high altitudes had the lowest. The study suggests that environmental factors such as exposure to non-human sounds in forest areas or lower pollution levels could be linked to enhanced hearing. Conversely, high-altitude living may reduce hearing sensitivity due to environmental conditions like lower atmospheric pressure and reduced oxygen levels.
Additionally, the research highlighted a disparity between urban and rural populations, with city dwellers showing a shift towards higher frequency hearing. This may be due to the adaptive filtering of low-frequency noise from traffic common in urban environments.
Professor Turi King, who conducted the UK portion of the study while at the University of Leicester, emphasized the implications of these findings. “We were surprised to discover that women had significantly more sensitive hearing than men, which accounted for most individual variations,” she said. “This could be linked to hormonal differences or structural variations in cochlear anatomy. Interestingly, women also performed better in other hearing-related tests, suggesting that their brains are better at processing auditory information.”
Dr. Balaresque added that the study challenges traditional views of hearing sensitivity and underscores the need to examine both biological and environmental factors when studying hearing. “Understanding the natural variation in hearing can improve our knowledge of hearing loss and help us address individual differences in noise tolerance,” she said.
The study’s findings provide valuable insight into the complex factors that contribute to hearing sensitivity and offer a better understanding of how humans have adapted to different environments over time.
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